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This is the gravestone of my 2x great grand uncle William Buckley and his wife Mary Heaps.

I took the photograph last week when I visited Utley Cemetery at Keighley in West Yorkshire. The grave is plot number 58 in Section F Con. and was bought by Mary Buckley.

William was born about 1824 in Keighley to parents Thomas Buckley and Henrietta Mason. He first appears in the 1841 census living with his parents.

Mary Heaps was born about 1826 also in Keighley. I haven’t any firm evidence about her parents. There is a Mary Heap (no “s”) in the 1841 census who is a good candidate. I could always get William and Mary’s marriage certificate and see if that helps – but to be honest this isn’t a priority.

Anyway, William and Mary married sometime in the first quarter of 1844 and the marriage is registered in Keighley.

Over the next twenty one years they had at least 7 children

Thomas – c1846

Smith – c1848

James – c1850

Lettice – c1855

Ann – 1857

Pamela – c1859

William – c1865

There are some gaps in the years that might suggest they had other children who died young and didn’t show up in any census.

I have found the family on the census returns for 1851 in Bingley (about four miles from Keighley),1861 and 1871 in Keighley, and 1881 back in Bingley. William worked as a “blacksmith” throughout all this time.

William died on 12th March 1887 and Mary on 22nd June 1890. According to the information from Utley Cemetery Mary’s name at the time of her death / burial was Parker. I haven’t been able to find a marriage for Mary Buckley to a Parker in the period from 1887 to 1890. So that mystery is still to be solved.

The grave also includes the remains of Thomas Buckley (son) who died at the Keighley Workhouse Infirmary in December 1899; James (son) who died in August 1904 and his wife Margaret Ann Pickles who died in September 1932.